Congress must fund CBP to add officers at OIA.

For all the progress made in diversifying Central Florida’s economy over the past decade, tourism remains its foundation. Travelers to this region account for more than a third of all economic activity, support 424,000 jobs and generate more than $3 billion in local taxes, according to Visit Orlando.

Last year, the annual tally of visitors to Osceola, Orange and Seminole counties reached 68 million, a record. About 10 percent came from other countries, but international visitors tend to stay longer and spend more, so they have an outsized positive impact on travelrelated businesses and jobs. That means anything that discourages travel from abroad is especially bad news for the region’s economy. A lack of Customs and

This includes a bottleneck at Border Protection officers the primary entry for visitors is creating delays at from other countries to Central airports in Orlando and Florida — Orlando International across the U.S. Airport. The airport saw its count of arriving international For the economy and passengers jump from 1.49 security, Congress needs million in 2009 to a record 2.83 to providing funding to million last year, an 89 percent add CBP staff. increase. Those numbers are still headed higher, as OIA continues to add flights from more overseas locations. But the number of federal Customs and Border Protection officers at the airport who screen those incoming passengers, as well as U.S. residents coming back from abroad, hasn’t increased since 2009.

OIA leaders say this shortage of CBP officers has become a crisis. It’s creating crowds and lengthy delays at the airport’s two CBPoperated federal inspection stations. At peak times, arriving international passengers can get stuck on their planes until the congestion clears enough for them to go inside and wait in line.

Airport leaders rightly worry that visitors from abroad who endure long waits to get through customs in Orlando might reconsider any plans to come back to Central Florida, or airlines might reroute international flights to destinations with less congestion.

What’s worse, short staffing and pressure to keep crowds moving raise the risk of a security breach at the airport. If something bad happens, it could deal a lingering blow to tourism and the region’s economy.

The airport has taken several steps on its own to try to offset the dearth of CBP staff. It has paid for 39 self-service kiosks for international travelers, and incorporated other technology to speed up the flow of passengers through customs. It has spent almost $4 million in airport funds since 2015 to cover overtime for CBP officers. OIA leaders say the airport’s budget won’t sustain such measures indefinitely. And given the regular backups at the inspection stations, they aren’t enough to fix the problem.

With Congress still working on next year’s budget, lawmakers can alleviate the problem by adding or redirecting funding to expand CBP staffing. OIA leaders recently wrote three of Central Florida’s representatives in the U.S. House and the state’s two U.S. senators to appeal for help.

The representatives have an obvious interest in going to bat for the region’s biggest airport. But the senators — Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio — do, too, because CBP staffing shortages also are a problem at other airports in Florida.

In fact, they’re a problem at international airports in states around the country, and worthy of attention of their members of Congress, too. In surveys conducted by the U.S. Travel Association, 43 percent of visitors from abroad said they’ll recommend avoiding a trip to the United States because of delays in the entry process. This has cost the country millions of visitors over the years, and billions of dollars, according to the association. The CBP’s own workload staffing model calls for the agency to add more than 2,100 officers.

Dedicating enough manpower to screen international air travelers is good for the economy, and better for security. We look forward to action on these national priorities in Congress, spearheaded by Florida’s delegation.